Women and drink

Make mine a double standard - Why blotto women are an embarrassment
Friday September 8, 2006



Drunk women are disgusting, embarrassing and slutty, while drunk men are merely amusing or "a joke", a new study exposing the double standard of New Zealanders' attitudes to drinking has found.

The Massey University study by psychologist Antonia Lyons found that although there was acceptance of drunkenness among women and men within their groups of friends, there was a double standard for strangers. ?"Older women, attractive women and women who are out in public very drunk ... are condemned for their drinking," Dr Lyons wrote.

In her just-released study of 32 men and women, aged between 20 and 30, Dr Lyons said the subjects noted the double standard, with women's drinking being acceptable up to a point. ?"Once very drunk, however, women are looked down upon, considered embarrassing and also 'slutty'."

One woman, Carla, quoted in the report, summed it up. ?"It's a real double standard as well. Like, if there's a guy in a club that's really quite disgustingly drunk it's kind of a joke. ?But if there's a girl who's got like her makeup smeared all over her face and is falling over and can't walk in her high heels properly it's quite embarrassingly bad."

Dr Lyons said drinking excessively was traditionally a masculine behaviour, which people were used to, but not so for women. ?She was surprised at her findings.

"In a way I was reassured that within their groups both women and men saw women going out and drinking with friends positively, as something that developed friendships and socialising, which is a real shift in terms of our culture," she said. "But I was totally surprised by the negative stereotypes of other women's drinking out in public, which reinforces more traditional views on women as always being in control and caring for themselves and others."

Dr Lyons' study - Going out and getting pissed: Young adults, drinking and gender identity - is to be presented at the New Zealand Psychological Society and Australian Psychological Society joint annual conference in Auckland this month.

- NZPA

I agree with that. I think there are double standards in behaviour between men and women. Drinking is one, dress is another, sex is another, there are many more. Don't get me going....this is really my bag. I'm sure I was a sufragette in a previous life ;)

When an older woman wears clothes that are considered too young for her she is accused of being mutton dressed as lamb, of trying to make herself look younger than she is, of being a tramp or a slut or a bit of a goer, when a man does it it's considered a joke. Everyone has a laugh and nothing more's said. When a man sleeps around he's considered to be a great guy, gets a good old slap on the back from all his mates for being so virile, is considered to be behaving naturally in sowing his wild oats. If a woman sleeps around she's a tart, a slut, a prostitute, a whore, she's the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low and loses any respect she may have had.

Men!! They like everything their own way and have been getting away with it for far too long! >:(

Yes, have to agree with all of that. Women will never have equal rights until that lot is sorted out.

Good grief. ::) This is one area where I don't think sexual equality should be encouraged. OK, women have just as much right to be as blotto as any man but I thought we were on the whole a bit 'better' than that!

Being tipsy is fun for most, but full drunkeness is a total lack of control. Traditionally (or biologically), women try to control their looks and behaviour, it is no wonder then that a very drunk woman acting sloppily is considered by both sexes to be demeaning herself.

That does not mean I am excusing men for getting drunk - they can be just as disgusting, probably more to a woman on the receiving end of their 'attentions'.

Yes ... I've been drunk more than once in my youth, driven under the influence, larked around, thrown up a couple of times, etc. If I was male, I would probably remember the experience with bravado and amusement; being female I dread to recall how stupid and embarrassing I may have been. I think most females may feel the same, and IMO that is to be applauded.
:)

Ditto what y'all wrote.